Conveyer



R. C. NEVVHOUSE March l0, 1925.

CONVEYER Fi1ed.Apri1 17, `3.922

Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

UNITED PATENT ovirlufcev.-. i

RAY c. NEwHoUsE, or Wimwnrosn., WISCONSIN, AssIeNon. To ALnIs-CHAILMERSMANUFACTURING DELAWARE.

Application led Aprill,

To all 'whom t may' con-cem.' u

Be it known that RAY C.` NnwHoUsn, a citizen of the United States,lresiding at Wauwatosa, in the county of Milwaukee' and State ofWisconsin, has invented ascertain` vators adapted to automaticallytransport materiall from one elevation to another, that the driving orpropelling chains must be constructed relatively heavy in order tosecure vsufficient strength to'carrythe iloaded buckets. Such yheavyconstruction `of the chains limits` the loads which may be transportedby the elevator, and requires excesi .sive vpowerin order to operate theelevatorI when running idly. In endless elevators having extremely longstretches, the ,weight of the chain requisite to produce the, necessarystrength, requires the provision of yrelatively heavy driving gears andsupporting A structure for preventing sagging of `the chain stretches,thereby inducing enormousl'friction losses andconsequent waste rofenergy. The ypresent invention contemplates" the provision of means forenabling the use of f relatively light `but sufficiently strongconveying elements .in elevators having relatively great length, thusreducing to a mini- 'mum the cost of construction of'sucli devices.

l visionof one or more devices 4for supporting the weight of sections ofthe endless elevating A chains and the buckets lassociatedl therewith,thereby relieving the driving mechanismy of some of the load induced bytliefweight of these elements. lIthas been found that with r theaid ofthe present invention,,it is possible to employ the` same propellingchains,

Sprockets.l v f The invention comprises lthe -pro' ooMPANY, orMILWAUKEE," WIscoNsIN, a coaPoRArroNo-r 4 CONVEYER.

1922. seria1'No.554,2s4.

' the same loads but are at least 40% shorter from center to center'ofthe end A clear'conception of several embodiment-s of the, presentinvention and of the operation of avr device constructedin acordancethere-` f,

with, may be hadyby referringfto the drawf" ing accompanying and formingapartlof this specification, in which l like j reference charac- L tersdesignatey the -s'amefor Asimilarparts' in" gv 4 the various views.

.'Fig.l `lis a fragmentray'sided/elevation Vofjl65v i Van improvedbucket'elevator. 1 f

Fig. 2' is anV enlarged4 centralsection f though 'an'improvedinrmediatel gupptm-` f for endless bucket elevatorsi Fig.l 3`is anenlarged side view of the "7o proved intermediate@support -forj endlessbucket elevators.

l'The elevator specificallyillustratedinthe i drawing comprisesingeneral a seri`e s of con@` 4 veyer bucke'tso-r 'pans2v supported byvendless r75 chains consisting-'lof` series of-interconnected vlinks '6,upper or head sprockets l rotatably supported in bearings ysecured -tothe upper stationary frame "26 by'meansof fa Vsprocket. Y v shaft 25,lower or tail sprockets coacting wit-h the links 6 andy rotatablysupported I upon a floating tension vcarriage 10 bymeans l,

ofa sprocket shaft 27, intermediate sprockets coacting withvmedialportionsof the endless chain stretches androtatably andautomatically adjust-ably supported from stationary frames 19, 20 bymeans of a: sprocket shaft 13, and ay feed hopper l2 for delivering.

material into the buckets or pansQ fas they, vpa-ss'in succession aroundthel lower `or tail sprocket 3.v The chain'links 6 carry rollers 32which coact with upper and lower sta-. tionary supporting rails 7, 8, 9,to prevent excessive'sagging ofthe chain stretches Vdue to u loading ofthe buckets. 'The upper or head sprockets 4 are rotatablethrough gearing23, by means of an electric 'motorf28` or' other suitable drivingdevice. A lratchet wheelzZl y secured tothe upper sprocket shaft" 25 is.

normally engaged by a pawl releasefmecha-l 100 nism 21 which is operableto release a pawl 22 and to c au'se this `pawl 22to engage vthe teeth ofthe ratchet wheel 24,' when reverse rotation of theshaft 25 from normal,tends.

to occur. The floating tensionkfcarriage 1Q whichsupports thelower orytail'sprockets' is movably'supported upon stationary rails 11, therebypermitting automatic adjustment of the lower sprocket -8 to take upslack in the chain stretches.

One or both of the intermediate or equalizing sprockets 5 may be securedto the sprocket .shaft 13 by means of"keysl29, and have teeth meshingwith both stretches of the elevator chains. The shaft 13 is freelyrotatably supported in bearings 14C confined between spaced guide-ways1S and resting ,upon the upper extremities of nests of compression-springs 15., The lower extremities of the springs 15 react againstadjustable plates or supports 16 which in turn rest upon the threadedadjusting. rods 17 The threaded rods k17 coact with threaded plates orbrackets sup-ported upon the stationary .frame 19. The upper stretchesof the elevator chain are preferably vprovided with .retaining rails orguards l3.1 for preventing the .chains 'from leaving the upper teeth ofthe intermediate sprockets 5.l f

During normal operation of the elevator, the upper driving-sprocketslare being posij tively rotated in a clockwisev direction as viewed inFig. 1, by means of-the motor 28 and the driving gearing 23. Rotation'of the upper sprockets 4 causes the endlesselevator chains to move vasindicated by the arrow, and to rotatethe lower and the intermediatesprockets 3, .5. j During advancement. of the endless chains, therollers 32 ride over vthe successive stationary guide rails 7, 8, 9 and'thus prevent excessive sagging of the chain stretches.' Material maythen be ldelivered by gravity or otherwise, from the feed hopi stretchestaut.'

l.per 12 into the successive pans or buckets 2 passing the deliveryspout, and the upwardly advancing'loaded buckets 2 carry the niaterialthus delivered therein over the upper sprocket i whe-re the material iseventually discharged by .gravity as the successive buckets 2 areinverted. By virtue of the floating carriage 10, .the lower sprockets 3will automatically take up slack in the stretches of the lendless chainsvand will keep these l lith the tension of the springs 15 properlyadjusted, the intermediate sprockets V5 will automatically function tosustain a considerable portion of the weight of the buckets 2-and of thechain located below the engaged teeth ot the sprocket 5, `the balanceofthe weight of these elements being sustained by the guide rails 7, 9.The upper or driving sprockets 4.- are therefore required to sustainonly a portion ofthe weight of Aco the buckets 2 and of the chainlocated above the sprockets 5, rthe ybalance of the weight of theseelementsbeing sustained by the sta-v tionary guide rails S, 9. Theproportion of the weight supported by the intermediate sprockets5 may bereadilyvaried by adjustment-:of the ,rods .17 to vary the tension of thesprings 15. The guard rails 31 serve to retain proper intermeshingbetween the sprockets 3 and the yupper' chai-n stretches.

It will thus kbe .noted .that by providing the intermediate equalizerlsprockets weight of the propelling chain. may be mavterial'ly"reducedwithout sacrificing necessary strength,` thus preventing excessiveweight upon the upper driving sprockets 4 andupon the guide rails 7, 8,9 and reducing to a minimum the power required to operate the elevatoridly. In excessively long elevators it may be desirable to utilizemorethan one vset of equalizing sprockets 5, and it will be lobvious thatthis ymay readily be done. The :dev-ice may also be made auto- 5 the jmatically adjustable .to properly-support the weight of the elements byemploying weights or other yielding meansin place of the compressionsprings 15. The springs 15 besides being readily adjustable maybequickly removed for replacement, without removing y the sprockets 5 andthe'elements associated therewith. It will also be obvious that theVeqiializi-ng device. is applicable toA vertical elevators and 'toelevators disposed atinclinations other than illustrated.

It should be understood that it is not :dei sired to limit the inventionto the exact details of construction and of operation herein shown Vanddescribed, for variousniodications within the .scope of the claims mayoccur to persons skilled in the art. j

It is claimed and desiredto secure by LettersPatent. A

1. In an elevator,`7a series ofinterconnected conveying ldevices formingoppositely traveling ."stretches, means 'for impartingv tion of each vof.Said stretches adjacent to.

said vsprocket to lpositively retain Said stretches in engagement withsaid sprocket.

S. In aneleva-tor, a series of interconnected conveying devices formingoppositely traveling rectilineal stretches, means associated with.adjacent ends of said stretches for imparting motion thereto, meansmov-y able parallel to said stretches andy engaging their opposite endsfor maintaining said stretches taut, a rotary idler element engagingportions of both of said stretches intermediate their ends, andnieanscoacting with yboth of said stretches adjacent tofsaididler forpositively retainingsaid stretches in engagement with said idler.

4. In an elevator, a series of interconnected conveying devices formingoppositely traveling parallel inclined f rectilineal stretches, meansassociated with the upper ends or' said stretches for imparting motionthereto, means movable along van inclined plane parallel to saidstretches and coacting with their lower ends for maintaining saidstretches taut, a rotary idler element engaging portions of both of saidstretches intermediate their ends, and means coacting With i both ofsaid stretches adjacent to said idler vfor positively retaining saidstretches in engagement with said idler.

5. In an elevator, a series of interconnectendsof said stretches Aforimparting motion thereto, means movable alongan inclinedv plane parallelto said stretches and coacting With their lower ends tor maintainingsaid stretches taut, a rotary idler element engaginginner medialportions of both of saidl rectilineal v 20 stretches, and stationarymeans coacting i with outer medial portions of both of said. stretchesto retain said stretches in Aengagementivh said element.

In testimony whereof, lie signature ofthe Y inventor is atlixed hereto.`

` RAY C.. NEWHoUsE,

